


Admiration

by orphan_account



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, childhood crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:27:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24947626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rogue always knew his kind of admiration for Gajeel Redfox wasn't the same as Sting's for Natsu Dragneel.
Relationships: Rogue Cheney/Gajeel Redfox
Kudos: 13





	Admiration

Rogue always knew his kind of admiration for Gajeel Redfox wasn't the same as Sting's for Natsu Dragneel.

Sting thought that the Fire Dragon Slayer was amazing, and strong, and fearless, and unstoppable, and Sting wanted to beat him more than anything.

Which Rogue understood until certain point: Gajeel was all of those things. However, whenever he saw him on all his glory walking with the Phantom Lord, he couldn't stop himself from focusing on his smile.

Gajeel's piercings were cool, his hair was pretty, his red eyes were warm, and, in Rogue's opinion, the man was just beautiful. 

The iron mage noticed him, eventually, and he became his sworn brother. It felt wrong. Rogue didn't like it, and still, it was the only way he could admire him closer.

He felt betrayed when he saw the Phantom Lord being reduced to nothing, and even more when the Iron Dragon Slayer joined the guild responsible for that. Rogue didn't follow him there, but it didn't stop him from daydreaming.

Rogue always blushed thinking about Gajeel and he thinks maybe only Frosch ever noticed it.

This kind o thoughts also passed through Sting's mind, except they weren't about Natsu.

"Mirajane from Fairy Tail is so beautiful!" Sting would exclaim all the times he'd see a picture from the mage.

Rogue would just nod and look away. She was beautiful, yes, but every time Sting would point it out, he remembered Gajeel.

When news arrived in a form of a punch about the Fairy Tail simply vanishing, they both cried, doing their best to not let each other see.

They decided to get stronger from there on, they'd be stronger than the Fairy Tail Dragon Slayers had ever been.

Rogue and Sting entered Sabertooth and got a stupid title: The Twin Dragons of Sabertooth. They were strong and Sting sometimes would comment he wished Natsu was alive just to defeat him, show him he was the superior Dragon Slayer.

Rogue avoided thinking about meeting again an alive Gajeel.

When Fairy Tail returned to life, they were already older then their admired mages.

Having Gajeel around on the Grand Magic Games was, to put in a simple word, distracting. Rogue could barely focus on the fights, his eyes always seeking Gajeel's reactions to certain parts of the event.

His brain wasn't helpful at all, providing him at night with made up scenarios of them becoming closer, maybe Gajeel throwing his arm around him, and maybe he could feel his scent again. He took a deep breath, feeling his cheeks warm.

Rogue could feel Frosch's eyes on him when he got flustered like this.

"Is Rogue okay?" He'd whisper to him worriedly.

The shadow mage just smiled and hugged him closer.

The both times they fought, Rogue could finally forget about this thoughts. He, for the moment, understood Sting and needed to defeat him. To prove himself a worthy opponent.

He lost, and still, intrusive thoughts about how Gajeel was amazing kept fixated in his mind.

When the games and everything terrible around came to an end, the Fairy Tail became closer to their reformed Sabertooth.

Sting was thrilled to have Natsu as a rival, someone to look forward to fight. And Rogue couldn't stop acting even more quietly around Gajeel.

One night, when his team was passing by the fairy guild, they were invited in. As usual there, everything was very loud. Loud mages were challenging themselves while a lot of things was being broke around. He chose a very hidden place to try to escape the crowd, only making sure Frosch knew where to find him just in case.

His heart skipped a bit at the sight of his childhood hero arriving in the room.

"Your frog is cute." Gajeel commented crashing on the seat next to him.

Rogue tried his best to act naturally, but ended up just nodding and shrinking his body. Every single thought he ever had about him was right there, and Rogue couldn't really make himself face those eyes.

"Your hair is in your face," The iron mage motioned vaguely with his hand in front of Rogue's face. "Here."

Rogue froze as Gajeel took off his bandana and started putting it in his head. He ran one of his hands on Rogue's now showing face, and, before the shadow mage could think properly about it, he had his eyes closed and had leaned on his touch.

More than that, he was smelling his hand.

"Oh, you like being petted?" Gajeel asked dumbly, making him snap his eyes open and yank his head away.

Rogue couldn't really avoid the embarrassed, neither could he avoid the urge he had to just hold Gajeel and smell him and never let go.

Gajeel picked Rogue's hand and started rubbing circles.

"Listen, shadow face..." Gajeel started rambling, and Rogue didn't really know how he was supposed to pay attention to it when he was so close and touching him. "... Yeah?" Gajeel asked.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Gajeel laughed his usual laugh — the one that made him feel warm when he heard.

"I said: 'We can make out, if you want to'." He repeated and Rogue blushed.

"Why would you say that?" The shadow mage practically whispered.

"The frog, he told me you always get red and happy looking at me. Is it true? You got a crush?" He asked, wearing a huge convinced smile on his face.

Rogue's world stopped. Except for his heart, that was beating in an extraordinary speed. He liked that idea.

He squeezed Gajeel's hand back and brought it to his lips, letting a light kiss.

"You're weird, I'll take that as a yes." Gajeel laughed before, gently, reaching for Rogue's lips with his own.

Rogue decided he liked kissing, even if it was just the soft contact. He felt Gajeel adjusting to deepen the kiss, and before he could make any protest — not that he really would protest —, the Iron Dragon Slayer was sitting on his lap.

Gajeel Redfox was in front of him. He could feel his weight and his hands running on the back of his head. And suddenly, he couldn't respond to all that anymore.

"You're good?" Gajeel asked worriedly.

Rogue looked away, and he kind of wished he had his hair to cover some of his face now.

"You're beautiful." Rogue whispered, holding him and burying his face on his chest.

"Yeah." Gajeel laughed, still confused.

Rogue tightened the grip and took a deep breath, he smelled nice.

"I ruined the moment." Rogue said quietly after a couple of minutes, embarrassment eating him.

"You did." Gajeel said getting out of his grip and getting up. "We could try again next time." He completed, laughing.

"Next time." Rogue repeated dumbly.

Gajeel extended a hand to help him get up as well.

"People are missing you there, come."

He let himself be dragged to the loud ambient, where he could see Sting and Natsu having an arm wrestle. Nobody seemed bothered that he and Gajeel stayed close for most part of the night.

When his team from Sabertooth was about to leave to where they'd be camping that night, Gajeel pulled him for a quick kiss. A too quick kiss, but he still closed his eyes.

Opening them he could see Gajeel's smirk and, looking around, he could see the shocked faces of Sting and Natsu. He smiled, he always new their connection was different.

Before sleeping, he took off Gajeel's bandana from his head and put it by his side.

"Rogue is happy." Frosch said happily. Rogue smiled back and hugged him.

He kept remembering the night, and thinking about his smell, and wondering if there would really be a next time.

**Author's Note:**

> I need more of those two in my life, really
> 
> If someone actually read it, thank you!


End file.
